Health News

REPORTING POINT 12/12

HEALTH NEWS

“Live healthy...Live well”

Dedicated to providing pertinent information on health, fitness, and nutrition to foster a culture of wellness among Southwest Airlines flight crews and their families.

by Larry Kline

email: livehealthy-livewell@cox.net

Black Pepper and Fat - For centuries traditional Eastern medicine used black pepper to treat gastrointestinal distress, pain, inflammation and other disorders. A new study found that piperin, the pungent-tasting substance that gives black pepper its characteristic taste, can block the formation of new fat cells. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 05/12.

VITAMIN E AND PROSTATE CANCER RISK – the large Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial found that these two nutrients did not help protect against prostate cancer.  Recent research indicates that the men who had taken vitamin E (400 IU of the synthetic form a day) have 17 percent higher risk of prostate cancer than those taking a placebo.  The report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that effects of supplements can show up years after people stop taking them.  University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, 02/12.

What's For Breakfast?  Eating foods at breakfast that have a low glycemic index may help prevent a spike in blood sugar throughout the morning and after the next meal of the day. These breakfast foods can also increase feelings of satiety and fullness and may make people less likely to overeat throughout the day. The glycemic index ranks foods on the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high index digest rapidly and result in high fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Foods with a low glycemic index produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels and are considered healthier, especially for people with diabetes. Low glycemic foods include rolled oats and groats, whole grains, nuts and seeds, sweet potato, barley b-glucan, yam flour, glucomannan, durum pasta, vegetable flours, chia/flax seed and resistant starch. Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 04/12.

INDULGE EARLY – There have been many articles published about the importance of eating a good breakfast.  Now Israeli researchers believe that adding dessert to your breakfast may aid in long-term weight loss.  Overweight people who age a high-carb, high-protein breakfast that included dessert had fewer cravings and were more likely to stick with a diet than were people who ate a low-calorie, low-carb breakfast.  According to the researchers, a morning dessert can curb cravings for sweets later by suppressing production of the hunger hormone ghrelin.  Men’s Health, 06/12.

Tart Cherry Juice - Drinking tart cherry juice two times per day for three weeks resulted in considerable reductions in vital inflammation markers. This is good news for arthritis and join pain sufferers. American College of Sports Medicine Conference, 05/12.

SITTING TOO MUCH IS A HEALTH RISK – sitting too much increases the risk of premature death, even in people who exercise, according to an Australian study of 222,000 healthy adults in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  The greatest risk was among those sitting for at least 11 hours a day, who were about 40 percent more likely to die over the course of the three-year study than those sitting less than 4 hours a day.  These findings are in line with other research and held true regardless of body weight, age, overall health, smoking status, and time spent exercising.  Prolonged sitting can have adverse effects, notably on blood vessel function, HDL (good) cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar.  Many people spend 90 percent of their waking hours sitting.  Try to break up prolonged sitting time by getting up every hour or two and walking for a few minutes (or at least getting out of your seat on long flights for a few minutes to stretch and get some muscle movement-LK).  University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, 07/12.

MORE ON TRANS FATS – the closer science looks at trans fats, the more harmful the fats seem to be.  Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University found that people with higher blood levels of trans fats had more problems with memory and cognition.  Trans fats may displace healthy fatty acids in the brain’s neurons.  Avoid products that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and eat more vegetables, fish, nuts, beans, and citrus fruits, all of which foster cranial health.  Men’s Health, 04/12.

Pain Relief? - Exercise helps to alleviate pain related to nerve damage (neuropathic pain) by reducing levels of certain inflammation-promoting factors called cytokines. This supports exercise as a potentially useful non-drug treatment for neuropathic pain. In experiments, exercise reduced abnormal pain responses by 30-50 percent. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 06/12.
DECIPHERING LAB RESULTS – if you receive a copy of your lab results from your doctor and cannot figure out what the readings indicate, besides asking your physician what the numbers mean, you can also go online to the website www.labtestsonline.org to answer many of your questions.  Though sponsored by clinical laboratory groups and several diagnostic companies, the website is noncommercial and written for consumers.  There is a pull down menu just under the main website header that accesses most lab tests and gives a narrative of their significance, range, and common questions relating to the individual tests. There is also a mobile app: LabTestsOnline-M. University of Californian Berkeley Wellness Letter, 02/12.
5 WAYS TO CUT BREAST CANCER RISK

1.    WORK OUT CONSISTENTLY – moderate to vigorous exercise is linked with a 25 percent decrease in risk.  Exercise for 45-60 minutes five days a week.

2.    STAY SLIM – obesity is the biggest avoidable cause of breast cancer. Losing 5 to 10 percent of your weight lowers your risk if you are overweight.

3.    BREAST FEED – research shows that moms who nursed for a lifetime total of a year were less likely to get the disease than those who never breast fed.

4.    EAT MORE PLANTS – foods with high fiber content seem to lower breast cancer risk. Some researchers believe that the risk may be reduced by 60 to 80 percent through diet alone.  Healthy eating includes a diet heavy in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, and beans.

5.    LOSE THE VICES – a 2011 Archives of Internal Medicine study shows that smoking before menopause may be linked to a modest boost in breast cancer risk.  Alcohol raises it, too, and the more you drink, the higher it gets.  Health, 10/11.

Eating Fish -Regular fish consumption can decrease colorectal cancer risk by 12 percent. American Journal of Medicine, 06/12.
MORE ON MAMMOGRAMS – several years ago the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force changed its mammogram recommendations, advising screening every two years instead of annually between the ages of 50 and 75, and suggesting that women in their forties not be routinely screened.    

One issue of mammography being a very imperfect screening test is its high rate of false positives. These false alarms lead to anxiety and recalls for further testing because of suspicious findings and sometimes result in unnecessary biopsies and treatment of small slow-growing cancers that would never be life-threatening. One study found that with a decade of annual mammograms, most women, 61 percent, had at least one false-positive result, a figure higher than previously reported. Screening every other year lowered the probability by one-third, to 42 percent over the decade and also reduced unnecessary biopsies by about a third.

Besides confirming some advantages of alternative-year mammograms, this study should help women understand just how likely they are to have false-positive results eventually.  However frequently you get screened, one way to reduce false alarms is to make sure the radiologist has your previous mammograms for comparison.  That can reduce false positives by half, the study indicated.  University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter, 02/12.

PROTECT YOUR BRAIN – consuming just one soft drink a day raises the stroke risk by 16percent, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  One theory believes that the soda’s sweeteners and caramel coloring may lead to artery damage.  Black coffee was found to lessen stroke risk.  Men’s Health 09/12.

           

Health News

“Live healthy...Live well”

Dedicated to providing pertinent information on health, fitness, and nutrition to foster a culture of wellness among Southwest Airlines flight crews and their families.

by Larry Kline

email: livehealthy-livewell@cox.net

Red Wine & Fruit For Fat - Piceatannol is a compound found in red wine, grapes, blueberries and passion fruit. It is able to block cellular processes that allow fat cells to develop, opening a door to a potential method to control obesity. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 04/12.
Cancer Is A Preventable Disease - Only 5-10 percent of cancer cases are due to genetic defects. The other 90-95 percent of cancer cases are due to environmental and lifestyle factors including smoking, alcohol consumption, poor diet, obesity, infectious agents, environmental pollution and radiation. Pharmaceutical Research, 09/08.
Recovering from Cancer surgery - Cancer patients can literally take a step-by-step approach to combat fatigue following surgical treatment. This fatigue doesn't go away with sleep, affects daily activities (doing your personal hygiene in the morning, getting up and getting dressed, going from the bedroom to breakfast, etc.) and can also lead to anxiety and depression. Patients who underwent an operation as part of their cancer treatment and then started a regular walking regimen experienced less fatigue than cancer survivors who did not do the walking program. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 04/12.

FISH FACTS – good fish choices are labeled “frozen at sea,” which means it was flash-frozen before it could begin to spoil.  It will be as flavorful as fresh fish and cost less. 

Fresh fish should have flesh that is firm and translucent.  Choose wild versus farmed fish.  Wild fish usually contain more omega-3s (and higher, more beneficial ratios of omega-3s to omega-6s) than farmed fish.  Wild fish are also free of the antibiotics used to keep farmed fish disease-free.

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Fish (6 ounces)                                           Protein (grams)                                           Omega-3s/Omega-6s (milligrams)                                      Safe number of servings per month (based on mercury and PCB contamination)

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Alaskan salmon                                           46                                                                    2,420/192                                                                                          4+

Spanish mackerel                                        40                                                                    2,478/184                                                                                          2

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Halibut (Pacific)                                           46                                                                    1,138/65                                                                                             4+

Yellowfin tuna                                              50                                                                    528/17                                                                                                4

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Cod (Pacific)                                     40                                                                    482/14                                                                                                4+

Rainbow trout (U.S. farmed)                      42                                                                    2,102/1,614                                                                                       4+

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Swordfish                                                      44                                                                    1,796/63                                                                                             1

Tilapia (U.S. farmed)                                   42                                                                    403/504                                                                                              4+

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Catfish (U.S. farmed)                                  32                                                                    440/1,750                                                                                          4+

Salmon (farmed)                                          38                                                                    3,842/1,132                                                                                       1         

Men’s Health 04/11.

TRIGLYCERIDE TROUBLE – high triglycerides may raise the risk of cancer.  A study from Austria, Norway, and Sweden showed that men with triglyceride levels of 150 milligrams per deciliter or higher were more likely to develop one or more cancers, including kidney, colon, and lung than those with low levels.  Excess triglycerides may trigger cancer-inducing free radials.  Men’s Health 04/11.

PROTECT YOUR BRAIN – tea and coffee may protect the brain.  People who consumed as little as half a cup of coffee or tea a day were 34 percent less likely to develop brain cancer later in life than those who don’t.  High levels of antioxidant in these drinks may help prevent cancer cells from forming in the brain.  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Weight On The Brain - One-third of US adults are obese. A big part of the environment that encourages weight gain is the availability and consumption of calorie dense, high-fat foods. In particular, what we eat can alter the brain regions that regulate body weight. Leptin is a key hormone secreted from fat tissue and its main function is to inhibit appetite. Eating a high-fat diet reduces the actions of leptin in the brain. This miscommunication can lead to increased food intake and weight gain. Evolutionary speaking, we are designed to want to eat foods high in fat and gain weight because it made it easier to survive times when food was scarce. That is no longer a real concern since food is always available, but we still have a biological desire to eat calorie dense foods. Cell Metabolism, 02/12.

Added Sugar, Obesity And Diabetes - Fructose intake from added sugar is linked with the epidemic rise in obesity, metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Metabolic syndrome is a group of risk factors that raises a person's risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other health problems. Metabolic syndrome currently affects 25% of Americans. If you compared two diets of similar calorie intake (more fructose vs. more starch), the higher fructose diet will lead to greater accumulation of fat around organs and higher insulin resistance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 03/12.
Fish Oil - Six weeks of supplementation with fish oil significantly increased lean mass and decreased fat mass in test subjects. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 10/10.
High-Fat Diets Increase Colon Cancer Risk - Eating too much fat and sugar puts a person at greater risk for colon cancer and obesity. In normal tissue from patients with colon cancer, they found that epigenetic marks on genes involved in breaking down carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids (abundant in the fatty Western diet) appeared to have been retrained. Epigenetic marks are chemical modifications that serve as on/off switches for many genes. These foods are changing the methylation patterns on a person's insulin genes so that they express differently, pumping out more insulin than the body requires. Cancer Prevention Research, 03/12.
Exercise Linked To Change In DNA - Exercise almost immediately alters DNA in healthy but inactive men and women. Although the genetic makeup is not altered, DNA molecules change structurally and chemically when a person exercises. One researcher noted, "Our muscles are really plastic. We often say 'You are what you eat.' Well, muscle adapts to what you do. If you don't use it, you lost it and this is one of the mechanisms that allow that to happen." Cell Metabolism, 03/12.

Berry Good News - People who regularly consume foods rich in flavonoids (such as berries, apples, certain vegetables, tea and red wine) may significantly reduce their risk for developing Parkinson's disease. Flavonoids are naturally occurring, bioactive compounds present in many plant-based foods and drinks. Neurology, 04/12. CommuteRs Risk Health - Individuals with the longest commutes are least likely to report frequently engaging in moderate to vigorous exercise, and most likely to show risk factors for poorer cardiovascular and metabolic health. Commuting more than 10 miles to work (or a cross-country commute) is linked with high blood pressure. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 06/12 .

Snacking On Raisins - Eating raisins as an after-school snack prevents excessive calorie intake and increases the feeling of fullness as compared to other commonly consumed snacks. Grapes, potato chips and cookies resulted in approximately 56 percent, 70 percent and 108 percent higher calorie intake compared to raisins, respectively. The cumulative calorie intake (breakfast + morning snack + lunch + after-school snack) was 10-19 percent lower in children who ate raisins as an after school snack when compared to children who consumed other snacks. Canadian Nutrition Society, 05/12.

Cancer and Exercise - Physical activity is linked to lower rates of breast and colon cancer deaths. Exercise helps moderate insulin levels, reduce inflammation and possibly improve the immune response. Even though direct effects of physical activity on cancer are not definitely proven, given that physical activity is generally safe, improves quality of life for cancer patients, and has numerous other health benefits, adequate physical activity should be a standard part of cancer care. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 05/12.
Protein and Diabetes - Diabetes risk increases with higher intake of total protein and animal protein. For every 5 percent of calories consumed from protein instead of carbohydrate or fat, the risk of developing diabetes increased 30%. Increased animal protein intake coincided with increased intakes of saturated fat, cholesterol, and heme iron, and with increased body mass index, waist circumference, and blood pressure. Vegetable protein intake was not associated with diabetes risk. Diabetes Care, 05/12.

Health News

REPORTING POINT 10/12

HEALTH NEWS

“Live healthy...Live well”

Dedicated to providing pertinent information on health, fitness, and nutrition to foster a culture of wellness among Southwest Airlines flight crews and their families.

by Larry Kline

email: livehealthy-livewell@cox.net

Another Cup Of Tea - Green tea contains catechins, polyphenolic compounds that are known to exert numerous protective effects, particularly on the cardiovascular system. Green tea catechins at doses ranging from 145 to 3,000 mg per day taken for 3 to 24 weeks led to statistically significant reductions in total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 11/11.

IS SUGAR MAKING AMERICA FAT? – high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is thought to be similar to sugar in the body because it contains either 42 percent or 55 percent fructose (which is close to table sugar’s 50-50 glucose-fructose split).  Scientists at the University of Southern California found that all the U.S. sodas they tested contained at least 58 percent fructose.  A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation found that adults who consumed drinks sweetened only with fructose for 10 weeks saw levels of abdominal fat and several harmful blood lipids increase, and their insulin sensitivity decrease, compared with adults who drank only glucose-sweetened drinks. The average American drinks 57 gallons of soda a year, about 600 cans of which over half is not sugar-free. That is one reason there is so much added sugar in the American diet. Americans consume 450 calories of added sugar every day, and that is not counting fruit.  Some scientists believe that all of that sugar, especially fructose, can be hard on your liver, just like excess alcohol consumption.

SUGAR-THE BITTER TRUTH

(The following is a transcript presented on NPR’s Science Friday of a controversial interview with Dr. Robert Lustig-edited and condensed for this publication. Since Dr. Lustig’s views are controversial, several counterpoint opinions are presented for rebuttal and educational purposes for the reader. LK)

 According to Robert Lustig, professor of pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology, University of California, San Francisco (head of the Weight Assessment for Teen and Child Health Program), it's not just the addition of sugar that is a primary issue but it is also the removal of fiber in the American diet. The reason why fiber is so important is because it actually delays the absorption of sugar so that your liver has a chance to “catch up.”

Metabolized sugar is delivered to an area of the cell called the mitochondria. The mitochondria is the part of the cell that burns energy and creates chemical energy for your body to use. If you overload your mitochondria (with consumed added sugar) the mitochondria convert (excess energy) to fat. 

There is no (food) label indication separating added sugars from total sugars in a food product. Numerous studies, both in animals and humans, show that the area of the brain, the reward center, is affected by sugar the same way it is by tobacco, alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, heroin, and therefore it fosters continued consumption. 

HOW WE GOT THIS WAY

With an evolutionary view we as human beings really only had sugar available to us one month a year - at harvest time. Fruit would fall to the ground, we'd gorge on it, consume it like crazy. That would increase our adiposity, it would increase our fat stores very specifically.

What would come after that? Four months of winter; little food available. So putting on those extra pounds in advance of a four-month famine was actually adaptive and actually let us make it through winter so that we could repeat the cycle all over again. It was actually metabolically and evolutionary adaptive.

The problem is that we now have a maladaptive situation because sugar is available 24/7, 365 in amounts that has never been known to man previously. How do we know this is true? Because the orangutans in Papua New Guinea have what are known as masting fruit orgies every January when harvest time comes  The food falls to the ground, and they do exactly the same thing. We assume that this must be the reason sugar was put here for us in the first place.

The sugar that is in fruit is not a problem.  It's what you do to the manufacturing of processed food that's the problem. Adding sugar and removing fiber creates processed food and that is where the problem is. Sugar is just one manifestation of food processing. Sugar is specifically added to processed foods for palatability, especially with the directive to decrease the fat in the diet, which makes no sense at all when you understand the science. Sugar, not fat, says Lustig, is to blame for the obesity epidemic.

Lustig continues, “…we've had a reduction in percent consumption of fat from 40 to 30 percent over the past 30 years. In the process, our obesity and metabolic syndrome prevalence has gone through the absolute roof. In 1977, the McGovern commission’s dietary guidelines for Americans basically told us that we needed to reduce our consumption of fat. In the early 1970s, we learned about this thing in our blood called LDL, low-density lipoproteins. We learned that dietary fat raised our LDL, which is true. We also then learned in the late 1970s that LDL levels in populations correlated with cardiovascular disease. So the thought was if dietary fat raises your LDL and LDL raises your risk for cardiovascular disease, let's get rid of dietary fat and cardiovascular disease would go down. That was the thought process. The AHA, the AMA and the USDA all bought into this. The food industry went along with it.” (Total calories consumed is up significantly since 1977-LK)

The food industry retooled. They reengineered all their recipes. That's how we got Entenmann's fat-free cakes. That's how we got Snackwells. They're still with us. Bottom line, not only has it not worked, but it's actually made things way worse .Dietary fat does raise your LDL - that's true - but there are two LDLs, not one. There's one called large buoyant, and there's one called small dense. 

When you measure your LDL levels in your blood, you measure both at the same time. It turns out the large buoyant has nothing to do with cardiovascular disease. They float. They go along inside your blood vessels. They're too large to get under the surface of the cells that line the arterial wall. They don't cause any damage. The small dense ones are the ones that are driven up by carbohydrate consumption. They are small enough to get under the surface of endothelial cells. They are the ones that start the foam cell process which starts atherogenesis, and they're the ones that have gone through the roof, because when we took the fat out, the food tasted like cardboard. We had to substitute something. We substituted  with simple carbohydrates; in other words, sugars. So our percent fat went down, and our percent carbohydrate went up astronomically, which drove hyperinsulinemia.

WHAT TO DO

According to Robert Lustig, when considering food, remember three words: Eat Real Food. Because all food is inherently good, whether it's meat, whether it's fat, even whether it's carbohydrate because carbohydrate comes with its inherent fiber. That's what ultimately mitigates the negative effects of carbohydrate.  It's refined carbohydrate, the processed carbohydrate, which is the problem. The fat that occurs naturally, even saturated fat, does raise your LDL, but it raises the LDL that doesn't matter. It's the trans-fat that causes significant cardiovascular disease. That's synthetic (food).  In other words, if you ate what came out of the ground or you ate the animals that ate what came out of the ground, you would be fine. Men’s Health 04/11, Science Friday 2/17/12(NPR)

            COUNTERPOINTS

It appears that the rise in obesity is due in large part to an increase in caloric intake in general, rather than an increase in added sugars in particular. Lustig insufficiently addresses the ‘energy out’ side of the equation. According to the research, it’s possible that over the last couple of decades, we’ve become more sedentary. King and colleagues recently compared the physical activity data in the National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1988-1994 with the NHANES data from 2001-2006, and found a 10 percent decrease. From a personal observation standpoint, that figure seems conservative (internet surfing for hours, etc). It’s safe to say that all 603 extra daily calories have been landing in the nation’s collective adipose depot. It’s also safe to say that all this finger-pointing at carbohydrate is just as silly as the finger-pointing toward fat in the ’80′s. Lustig takes the scapegoating of carbohydrate up a notch by singling out fructose. Perhaps the most passionate point he makes throughout the lecture is that fructose is a poison. Well, that’s just what we need in this day and age – obsessive alarmism over a single macronutrient subtype rather than an aerial view of the bigger picture.

I share (Dr. Lustig’s) concern for the nation’s penchant for sitting around and overconsuming food and beverages of all sorts. However, I disagree (as does the bulk of the research) with his myopic, militant focus on fructose avoidance. He’s missing the forest while barking up a single tree. The big picture solution is in managing total caloric balance with a predominance of minimally refined foods and sufficient physical activity. The bitter truth about fructose alarmism by Alan Aragon (MS-Nutrition).

Dr. Lustig doesn't really address the calorie-in versus calorie-out equation which is pertinent to the issue. The liver and mitochondria are all parts of the process which enables us to produce energy for activity and to store energy (fat) for later use Fructose has a slightly different metabolism than glucose, however, even though it may affect appetite; the bottom line is not the fructose itself but the fact the person over eats. Compared with consumption of high glucose beverages, drinking high fructose beverages with meals results in lower circulating insulin and leptin levels, and higher ghrelin levels after the meal Since leptin and insulin decrease appetite and ghrelin increases appetite, some researchers suspect that eating large amounts of fructose increases the likelihood of weight gain. Christine Kline RD

HEALTH NEWS

REPORTING POINT 09/12

HEALTH NEWS

“Live healthy...Live well”

Dedicated to providing pertinent information on health, fitness, and nutrition to foster a culture of wellness among Southwest Airlines flight crews and their families.

by Larry Kline

email: livehealthy-livewell@cox.net

DENTAL HYGIENE - Bad teeth and gums aren't just signs of poor oral hygiene. Your mouth could be saying nasty things about your heart and bones. In 2010, Scottish researchers reporting in the British Medical Journal found that tooth brushing lowers the risk of heart disease. Compared with twice-a-day brushers, people who brushed less frequently had a 70 percent greater risk of heart disease or death from heart disease. Tooth loss also can signal osteoporosis. Missing teeth may mean jawbone density can no longer support a mouthful of teeth.

          Floss at least once a day. Treat it like any other part of your routine you'd never skip, like brushing your teeth or showering. At least 23 percent of women between 30 and 54, and 44 percent of women over 55, have severe gum (or periodontal) disease, reports the American Academy of Periodontology. This is a serious bacterial infection that attacks the tissue surrounding one or more teeth and the bone supporting them. It's the number one cause of tooth loss in the United States, but it's far from just a cosmetic issue: When periodontal bacteria enter the bloodstream, they can cause chronic inflammation. Researchers believe that such simmering infections in the body may up your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and even premature birth. Women in particular need to pay close attention to gum health. Flossing is very critical because the hormonal changes that occur in women during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause cause the oral bacteria that lead to gum disease to grow more readily.

            Plaque is a sticky film of bacteria that forms on teeth and gums. Following a meal or snack, the bacteria in plaque release acids that attack tooth enamel. Repeated attacks can cause the enamel to weaken, eventually causing tooth decay. Many of the foods we eat cause plaque bacteria to produce acids. If you snack often, you could be having acid attacks all day long. Plaque that is not removed with thorough daily brushing and cleaning between teeth can eventually harden into calculus or tartar.

Plaque also produces substances that irritate the gums, making them red, tender or bleed easily. After a while, gums may pull away from the teeth. Pockets form and fill with more bacteria and pus. If the gums are not treated, the bone around the teeth can be destroyed. The teeth may become loose or have to be removed. In fact, periodontal (gum) disease is a main cause of tooth loss in adults.

One way to prevent tooth decay and periodontal (gum) disease is by eating a balanced diet and limiting the number of between-meal snacks. If you need a snack, choose nutritious foods such as raw vegetables, plain yogurt, cheese or a piece of fruit. Prevention.com, American Dental Association “Oral HealthTips.”

Cancer Prevention In Your 50s - Cancer is more likely to show up in men over 50 years old. That's why the majority of cancer screening exams begin at age 50. Finding and treating cancer as early as possible is one of the best ways to beat this disease. In the case of prostate cancer (the most common cancer in men), treating the disease at an early stage means men may be less likely to experience long-term side effects, like impotence. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 11/11. PREVENTING COMPUTER EYESTRAIN – when you stare at a monitor, your blink rate drops from 20 per minute to 7, which results in your eyes drying out.  If increasing your blink-rate still does not help, try preservative-free eye drops.  To relieve eye fatigue, try the 20-20-20 monitor rule: look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.  Men’s Health, 04/11.

Ten Ways To Decrease Cancer Risk - 1) Max BMI of 25;  2) 5 or more servings of fruits & veggies daily; 3) 7 or more portions of complex carbs daily; 4) decrease processed foods & refined sugars; 5) limit alcoholic drinks to 1/day for women and 2/day for men; 6) limit red meat to no more than 3 oz. daily; 7) decrease fatty foods, particularly animal fats; 8.) limit intake of salted foods & use of salt in cooking; 9.) eliminate tobacco use; 10.) practice sun safety/recognize skin changes. American Cancer Society.

MARINADES FOR MEAT PROTECTION – besides improving the flavor of meats, Greek researchers found that marinated beef (in a soy sauce or red-wine mixture) had much lower levels of bacteria levels for up to 10 days.  Both soy sauce and red wine contain ethanol and phenolic compounds, which may act as antimicrobials.  Soak meat overnight for a good balance of flavor, texture, and potentially protective effects.

BARBEQUE GRILLING RISKS

The high heat of grilling meat, poultry, and fish creates potential carcinogens called heterocyclic amines (HCAs).  Charring is an indication that HCAs are present.  Other carcinogens called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are deposited on meat from the smoke that rises when fat drips on the hot coals (or any heat source).

            To reduce the potential risk:

-Choose lean cuts and trim any visible fat so that less fat drips during cooking.

-Marinate meat, even briefly, before grilling it.  This can decrease HCAs by more than 90 percent.  Use combinations of vinegar, citrus juices, cider, brown sugar, mustard, vegetable oil, herbs, and spices.

-Precook in the microwave or in the oven, discard the juices, and then finish on the grill.

-Use lower heat by waiting for the coals to burn less hot or by turning the gas down.

-Raise the grill rack farther from the heat.  Do not place the meat directly over the coals; that way the fat will not drip on them and flare up.

-Flip the meat frequently.  Cook to the proper temperature, but try to avoid charring (cut or scrape off any charred parts).  Use smaller pieces (like kabobs) which cook faster.

-Don’t use mesquite; this soft wood produces very high heat.

-Grill veggie burgers, vegetables, and fruit (like pineapple); they produce little or no HCAs.

-Stay upwind from grills to avoid breathing in smoke, which also carries health risks.

            Pan-frying and broiling at high temperatures also produce HCAs.  Instead, choose steaming, poaching, microwaving, stewing, roasting, and baking when possible.  Do not consume the pan drippings, either, since they can be high in HCAs and fat.  Men’s Health 04/11, University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter 7/06.

Soy And Hot Flashes - According to a placebo-controlled study, daily doses of a soy germ-based nutritional supplement containing S-equol decreased menopausal symptoms 59 percent, including significantly reducing hot flash frequency after 12 weeks. It is believed that S-equol, produced from the isoflavone daidzein during the fermentation of soy germ, interacts with specific estrogen receptors to promote the improvement in menopausal symptoms. Journal of Women's Health, 01/12.

Colds And Exercise - Different levels of exercise can significantly increase or decrease your chances of catching a cold. If you tend to be a couch potato, then you will catch 2-3 colds per year, on average. Regular moderate exercise can reduce the risk of catching cold-like infections by 33 percent (this effect has been shown to be the result of the cumulative effect of exercise leading to long-term improvement in immunity). Prolonged strenuous exercise, such as marathons, can make an individual more susceptible to catching colds. We are constantly exposed to viruses, but it is our immune system that determines whether we get sick or not. Association for Science Education Conference, 01/12.

Soft Drinks, Smoking and Asthma - A high level of soft drink consumption is associated with asthma and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 13.3 percent of participants with asthma and 15.6 percent of those with COPD reported consuming more than half a liter of soda per day. Furthermore, smoking makes this relationship even worse, especially for COPD. Compared with those who did not smoke and consume soft drinks, those who consumed more than half a liter of soft drink per day and were current smokers had a 6.6-fold greater risk of COPD. Respirology 02/12.

KEEPING A PAIN-FREE BACK – be a “wall” dog.  Stand at arm’s length in front of a wall and put your palms flat against it.  “Walk” your fingertips up the wall, leaning forward as you extend your arms, until your biceps are next to your ears.  Then push your hips back and stretch forward.  Hold this position for 60 seconds and repeat three times. (You can even do this stretch on a long flight, taking a few minutes on those longer flights to get out of the seat-LK). Men’s Health, 04/11.

Take A Break From Sitting - Interrupting prolonged periods of sitting with regular, two-minute breaks of light or moderate intensity activity, like walking, may be good for overweight and obese people's health. Such activity helps their bodies keep glucose and insulin levels under control after consuming a high calorie meal. Diabetes Care, 03/12.

DON’T BE IN DENIAL – In Great Britain (a socialized medicine state) citizens are dying early because of ignorance and denial of cancer symptoms. If Britain matched the best cancer survival rates in Europe, 11,500 fewer people would die every year. Matching just the European average would save 6,000-7,000 lives every year. Britain's poor record in early diagnosis is to blame. A survey asked Britons about warning signs and symptoms of cancer: 75 percent failed to mention pain, coughing, bladder and bowel problems; 66 percent failed to list bleeding; and only 25 percent mentioned weight loss or mole changes. 37 percent who spotted early signs of cancer said they may delay getting checked because they worried about the result; 37 percent said they may delay getting symptoms checked because it would be difficult to make an appointment to see their physician and 25 percent said it might be a waste of their doctor's time. Cancer Research, 2012

Health News

REPORTING POINT 08/12

HEALTH NEWS

“Live healthy...Live well”

Dedicated to providing pertinent information on health, fitness, and nutrition to foster a culture of wellness among Southwest Airlines flight crews and their families.

by Larry Kline

email: livehealthy-livewell@cox.net

Cancer Prevention In Your 40S - As we age, our metabolism decreases, especially as we reach age 40.  Making healthy food choices and staying active every day can help keep off unwanted pounds that may raise the risk of cancer. University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 11/11.

Depression And Vitamin D - because depression affects one in 10 adults in the US and low levels of Vitamin D have been linked to depression, researchers suggest that screening for vitamin D levels in depressed patients and perhaps screening for depression in people with low vitamin D levels might be useful. Vitamin D levels are now commonly tested during routine physical exams, and they are accepted as risk factors for a number of other medical problems such as autoimmune diseases, heart and vascular disease, infectious diseases, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers, and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, multiple sclerosis, and general cognitive decline. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 01/12.

PSA TESTING DEBATE – in 2011, 30 million men in America had a PSA test, a routine screening for prostate cancer for men over 50.  The test is considered the most effective way to detect the disease, which kills 34,000 men each year.  Last fall the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force kicked off one of medicine’s most contentious debates when it drafted a recommendation that healthy men should no longer get the test. 

            PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, is a protein produced by the prostate gland that at high levels may - but does not always – indicate the presence of cancer.  Since an infection or enlarged prostate can cause high PSA levels, an elevated reading does not always reflect cancer.  Many men with a reported high level of PSA will opt for a biopsy, a procedure in which a needle removes small samples of the gland to test for cancerous cells. The needle-biopsy can cause pain, bleeding, and an increased risk of antibiotic-resistant infection.  If a biopsy finds cancer, nearly 90 percent of men will undergo radiation, surgery, or androgen deprivation therapy, all of which can lead to impotence and/or incontinence.  A single PSA test cannot distinguish between the common type of prostate cancer, which grows so slowly that it is rarely fatal, and the aggressive form, which can kill men within five years.  The Task Force report essentially stated that the treatments often prompted by PSA screening may be more harmful than the disease itself.

            The Task Force’s recommendation against PSA testing has ignited a fiery debate between those who support the panel’s conclusion and the scores of patients and doctors who credit the test with saving lives.  Many doctors agree that though the data may not always be analyzed correctly, a PSA test is still the best way to find the disease before it becomes problematic. (Most types of prostate cancer are 100 percent treatable when detected early.)

            Prostate cancer is the second-most fatal cancer in men.  Deaths from the disease have fallen by a third since 1992, a statistic credited to early cancer detection through screening.  Before the Task Force’s recommendation, most medical organizations recommended that men receive their first PSA test at 50 and then get annual screenings each subsequent year.

            One of the main problems with PSA screening is that a high number does not always mean that a man has cancer, while a low one does not always indicate that he is cancer-free.  The American Cancer Society reports that nearly 75 percent of men who receive a borderline PSA test end up with a negative biopsy.  The test’s potential for false positives is well-known as men may receive a high PSA number with a prostate infection or an enlarged prostate.  The numbers produced on the PSA test just are not conclusive.  Once believed that PSA readings below 4 nanograms per milliliter were normal; a recent study now shows that cancer can be present at lower levels causing the National Cancer Institute to state that there is no normal PSA number.

            When Professor Richard Ablin discovered prostate-specific antigen in 1970, he intended it as a tool to find cancer in a patient after a malignant prostate was removed.  He did not expect that it would be used to detect the disease in men with no history of cancer.  Physicians adopted the PSA test and began including it in patients’ routine blood work in lieu of the traditional detection practice of manual rectal exams (the DRE).  Although still performed, they usually detect only cancer large enough to be considered advanced.  Since the FDA approved the PSA test in 1986, prostate cancer has become the second most commonly detected cancer in men, but Ablin contends the statistic is misleading.  Most diagnoses occur after age 70, and because it takes a period of years to die from untreated types of slow-growing prostate cancer, chances are that the majority of afflicted older men will die from another ailment.

            With so much conflicting advice, what should you do?  Some urologists have come up with a compromise strategy, recommending that men have a baseline PSA test in their 40s.  If their levels are low, they would not be screened anymore, while men with elevated levels should continue to be screened.

            A patient diagnosed with slow-growing prostate cancer should opt for a new type of care called active surveillance, for which he would have annual biopsies.  If a biopsy shows that the cancer is becoming more aggressive, then he can undergo surgery or radiation.  But there are drawbacks to this approach.  The more biopsies a man gets, the higher his risk of erectile dysfunction.

            While the current debate over PSA testing is intense, experts hope that a new form of screening will make the controversy moot in five to ten years.  At the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s 2011 scientific retreat, 17 different organizations presented new bio-technologies that could replace PSA testing.  Expecting to hit the market within two years, genetic blood tests that can distinguish between aggressive and nonaggressive cancers. A new genetic urine test currently used in conjunction with PSA screening may prove to be very effective.  Men’s Journal 01/12.

7 Bad Habits that Steal Your Sleep:

1. Avoid caffeine after lunch. Caffeine lingers in your system for up to 12 hours, so that after-lunch coffee can leave you wide-eyed at bedtime. Switch to decaf after midmorning, and try chamomile tea or warm milk in the evening. Both will help you get your sleep.
2. Downsize those big dinners. Large dinners take hours to digest, making it hard to fall asleep. Make lunch your main meal of the day, and limit dinner to fewer than 500 calories. Skip spicy foods and MSG for less heartburn, indigestion, and too-vivid dreams.
3. Work out early. Regular workouts can help you sleep better, but exercising within 3 to 4 hours of bedtime can actually mess with sleep. Shoot for morning, afternoon, or early evening workouts.
4. Skip the nightcap. Booze pulls a bait-and-switch when it comes to sleep. It makes you drowsy so you nod off, then it makes you wakeful and restless throughout the night. Skip alcohol within 2 hours of bedtime.
5. Turn off the TV. Glowing screens from electronics, such as TV, computers, and even your e-reader, signal your brain to stay alert. Power down an hour before bed.
6. Kick the habit. Like caffeine and alcohol, nicotine is a stimulant.
7. Don't work in bed. The stress of going over spreadsheets and other work-related tasks makes it hard to fall asleep. If you work on your laptop, you're getting a double-whammy of stimulation because you're in bed and in front of a glowing screen. Real Age, 1/23/12.

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